1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a foldable stroller, and more particularly to a single-hand-operated actuating mechanism for a foldable stroller.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional foldable stroller 9 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,447 includes a frame 91, two folding mechanisms 92, and a single-hand-operated actuating mechanism 93. The frame 91 has a pair of front legs 911, a pair of rear legs 912, and a U-shaped handle tube 913. Each of the front and rear legs 911, 912 has a bottom end mounted with a caster 900. The rear legs 912 have top ends connected respectively and pivotally to two ends of the handle tube 913. The ends of the handle tube 913 are connected respectively to top ends of the front legs 911 by the folding mechanisms 92. Each of the folding mechanisms 92 includes a first member 921 disposed on the top end of the corresponding front leg 911, a second member 921 disposed on the corresponding end of the handle tube 913 and engaging removably the first member 921, and a cable 923 (see FIG. 2) extending in the handle tube 913. Lower ends of the cables 923 are fastened respectively to the second members 922.
When the first and second members 921, 922 engage each other, the handle tube 913 and the front legs 911 are maintained in an unfolded state shown in FIG. 1, where relative rotation of the handle tube 913 and the front legs 911 is prevented.
With further reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the single-hand-operated actuating mechanism 93 is disposed at a middle portion of the handle tube 913, and includes a mounting housing 931, a pressing member 932 disposed pivotally in the mounting housing 931, and a disk 933 disposed rotatably in the mounting housing 931. The disk 933 is connected rotatably to the handle tube 913. Upper ends of the cables 923 are fastened to the disk 933. The pressing member 932 is disposed above the disk 933. The pressing member 932 is formed with a stop 934. The disk 933 is formed with a flange 935 disposed at an upper end portion thereof, and a lever 936 disposed at a lower end portion thereof and extending outwardly of the mounting housing 931.
With particular reference to FIG. 2, when the pressing member 932 is not pressed, the stop 934 of the pressing member 932 is in contact with the flange 935, thereby preventing rotation of the disk 933. To enable folding of the stroller, with particular reference to FIG. 3, the pressing member 932 is first pressed in a downward direction by the thumb of one hand to pivot the pressing member 932 downwardly to thereby move the stop 934 to a position below the flange 935. Next, with further reference to FIG. 4, the lever 936 is pivoted leftwardly by the remaining fingers of the hand to rotate the disk 933 clockwise. Hence, the cables 923 are moved to pull and remove the second members 922 from the first members 921, respectively, thereby allowing for rotation of the handle tube 913 relative to the front legs 911. However, such an operation of the single-hand-operated actuating mechanism 93 is difficult to perform and awkward for the user due to the directions of the forces that need to be applied by the thumb and fingers of the hand, respectively, to pivot the pressing member 932 and the lever 936.